PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "(Maryland Attorney General) Frosh has proceeded with an audit of some 1,300 cases, utilizing experts from around the country. That effort has since narrowed to focus on about 100 cases in which someone died while in physical restraint, and the medical examiner's office found the cause of death undetermined. He said when you couple the questions about Fowler's posture on the Floyd case "with the complaints of families of people who died in police custody saying 'the same thing happened to my kid,' or 'my father,' or 'my brother' ... it becomes obvious that something ought to be looked at."
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STORY: “He testified on behalf of George Floyd’s killer. Now his decisions as Maryland’s medical examiner are being reviewed,” published by CBS News (reporters Jim Axelrod, Andy Bast, Michael Kaplan and Alysa Spady) report, on December 22, 2022.
GIST: “From her home in Baltimore last year, Tawanda Jones watched police officer Derek Chauvin stand trial in a Minneapolis courtroom for the murder of George Floyd.
While the content of the widely televised proceedings in 2021 was disturbing, for Jones the most troubling part was the testimony of expert pathologist Dr. David Fowler.
Appearing on behalf of the officer accused in Floyd's death — documented in the infamous video showing Chauvin's knee on Floyd's neck — Fowler testified that the cause of death could not be determined: "This is one of those cases where you have so many conflicting manners," Fowler said. "So I would fall back to undetermined."
Fowler testified it was impossible to say what killed Floyd.
Jones watched in disbelief. "I wanted to knock my TV off the wall," she said.
Jones had seen Fowler sign off on a similar conclusion in the case of her brother, who died in police custody in 2013 in Baltimore after a traffic stop.
As Maryland's chief medical examiner for over 17 years before leaving in 2019, Fowler oversaw more than 1,300 cases involving deaths in custody.
Outrage about Fowler's testimony at the Chauvin trial was felt both at home in Maryland and within the medical community.
"When you get a letter from 400 experts saying, 'Something's wrong,' there's a pretty good chance that they have something that you should take a hard look at," Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh said. "The big question for us was: What happened in Maryland?"
Fowler did not respond to several requests for comment from CBS News. He previously said in a statement that he is "confident that any fair review will confirm that the Office met or exceeded all applicable professional standards."
Frosh has proceeded with an audit of some 1,300 cases, utilizing experts from around the country.
That effort has since narrowed to focus on about 100 cases in which someone died while in physical restraint, and the medical examiner's office found the cause of death undetermined.
He said when you couple the questions about Fowler's posture on the Floyd case "with the complaints of families of people who died in police custody saying 'the same thing happened to my kid,' or 'my father,' or 'my brother' ... it becomes obvious that something ought to be looked at."
Jones believes her brother's case is among the 100 being reviewed, although neither Frosh nor others involved would confirm which cases have been selected. She says the case warrants a review.
While chief medical examiner for Maryland, Fowler had signed off on a ruling that the manner of death "could not be determined" in her brother's case.
Tyrone West died in July 2013 after a traffic stop resulted in an altercation with police.
According to the post-mortem report from Fowler's office, West ended up "prone on the ground," but reportedly continued to resist officers attempts "to restrain and subdue him with the use of handcuffs and baton strikes."
The struggle continued until West "suddenly became unresponsive."
"They just said that my brother had some type of health issue and died in police restraint. That was their words. And we're like, 'What health issue? Like, what are you talking about?'" Jones said. "They were covering up."
Jones and her family wanted a second opinion.
An autopsy commissioned by the family concluded that her brother died from an officer's knee in his back resulting in positional asphyxia. That's the same way George Floyd died.
None of the officers in West's case faced criminal charges after an internal investigation cleared them of wrongdoing.
In 2014, Jones, on behalf of her brother's estate, filed a wrongful death lawsuit and reached a settlement agreement with the City of Baltimore and the State of Maryland.
Because the settlement contained a non-disparagement clause, Jones said she removed herself from the case so she could continue to speak out.
She told CBS News that she did not financially benefit from the agreement, but the money from the settlement went to West's children.
Frosh, who is leaving office in January, would not confirm whether West's case was among those being reviewed, but West's sister remains hopeful that he will not be forgotten.
Frosh said his reason for not confirming the names associated with cases under review is that the process must remain uninfluenced by grieving families or police officers.
If any errors are found in those post mortem rulings, officers involved in those cases could be subject to criminal charges.
Frosh's successor, Congressman Anthony Brown, will take over as attorney general in January. He declined a request from CBS News to comment on the ongoing review."
The entire story can be read at:
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGrbcGdVhmthQTfghDMXcDpShJH
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resurce. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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